Sunday, July 31, 2011

I have to remark on Matt Treanors little collision with LaPorta during last nights game. I was at dinner and I'd run into some friends and we were talking about whether it was worth driving to Olathe to see Brody Buster so I only had one eye on the TV, but I still very nearly stood up and yelled "And he's down!". Thank god I didn't.

Editor's note: CNN contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose books include "Late Edition: A Love Story" and "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams."

(CNN) -- There went July, for those of you keeping score at home.

And as another summer in the only life you'll ever lead makes its turn into the backstretch, perhaps we might pause for just a moment to reflect upon a glorious part of the American summer landscape that is no longer with us:
Thunderbirds.
Ford Thunderbirds.
It's not just that they don't make 'em like that anymore.
They don't make 'em. Period.
Born in 1955, the Thunderbird was instantly such a sensation that it seemed as if it would roll down America's highways forever. The first generation of Thunderbirds -- the ones manufactured in 1955, 1956 and 1957, and referred to as "Little Birds" by those who are devoted to T-Bird legend and history -- was a sharp, low-slung two-seater that was freedom and wanderlust incarnate. It was no wonder that in the movie "American Graffiti," the elusive blonde who represented summer dreams that always seem somehow just beyond reach drove one of the earliest Thunderbirds. Any other car would have seemed wrong.
The next generation of Thunderbirds -- the ones built in 1958, 1959 and 1960, and known as "Square Birds" -- are, to many of us, not just the most beautiful T-Birds ever, but the most beautiful cars. The very name -- Thunderbird -- felt ideal for the nation's post-World War II self-image: confident and powerful and a little cocky, unworried about what was around the next bend, strong enough to roll over any obstacles that might arise. There were songs written about the allure of T-Birds -- the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun" is the most famous -- but the T-Bird song that is most evocative in its poignancy was an album track by Bob Seger.
Called "Makin' Thunderbirds," the song celebrates the feeling of working on an industrial assembly line that is producing something special. In his lyrics, Seger paints a portrait of an America clear-eyed and optimistic and trusting in its ability to find its own way; he was singing about working on the line, but he was singing about the country, too: "We were young and proud, we were makin' Thunderbirds."
Somehow, it got away. Ford decided to try to improve on the Square Bird; the cars got longer and heavier and more luxurious, and for a while they were still recognizably T-Birds. But then, by the early 1980s, Ford did the seemingly impossible: It made the Thunderbird ordinary. The car that looked like no other became the car that looked like every other.
"That was awful," Elizabeth Werth told me the other morning. She and her husband Bill live in northern Illinois, and are members of Thunderbird clubs both locally and nationally. (Elizabeth is a past regional director of the Classic Thunderbird Club International.)
When the Thunderbirds became little more than family sedans, she said, "You couldn't even tell, when you were driving down the road, if that car that was coming toward you was a Thunderbird. Our neighbor across the street had one. I looked at it and thought, 'What? That's a Thunderbird? Why?' "
Bill Werth owns a restored '55 Little Bird, painted in the original Thunderbird Blue. "When I drive it, people pull up next to it and start taking pictures with their cell phones," he said. Elizabeth confirmed this: "People see it, and it's thumbs up, smiles, waves, cameras being pulled out, people hanging out the window of their cars to get a better look."
Ford fooled around with the design of Thunderbird for a while, then, in 1997, shut down the brand. It came back early in this century for a few years, but then was dropped again in 2005. There are currently no Thunderbirds being made.
Which seems a shame in a cookie-cutter universe of mundane cars that look like so many rounded-off shoeboxes. Car designers are always looking for the next great style concept, but Ford had it a long time ago -- that gorgeous Square Bird from 1958, 1959 and 1960 -- and threw it away in the name of progress.
I've had a theory that I have been trying out on people for years. What if Ford were to take the chassis underpinnings and engine used in today's autos, complete with all the now-necessary fuel-efficiency and safety standards, and drop the old Square Bird body on top of it? A Square Bird body constructed of modern materials, brand-new and ready to hit the highway? Why couldn't that be done? In a world of bland and dull transportation options, people might snap it up. It would make them happy just to look at it as they climbed behind the wheel every morning.
The idea is nuts, I have often been told. Couldn't be done. Unrealistic.
But then, last week, I spoke with someone who said that it could, in fact, be accomplished -- and might be a fine idea.
And he was speaking from inside the headquarters of the Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan.
"It's not nuts at all," said Bob Kreipke, Ford's official corporate historian. "The engineers and designers could come up with a way to make it work. I'd probably buy one myself, because it would be different from everything else that is out there on the road."
Kreipke said that in his opinion, the Thunderbird may be dormant, but not buried: "That is such a great brand. As far as I'm concerned, that brand is far from meeting its death. That's a real powerful nameplate."
In "Fun, Fun, Fun," of course, the Beach Boys sang that "Daddy took the T-Bird away." In real life, it was Ford that took the T-Bird away.
But what Ford taketh away, Ford can giveth.
Just the way it was: perfect.
Summer and Thunderbirds.
Sounds like a song.

-The only thing I would have to add to this article would be a request. Please don't make a new Thunderbird the boring ass cruisers they were in the early 2000's. They were cool looking, they were a great idea, but that sluggish sloppy riding boat they made out of it was no fun to drive at all. Take a good car platform and put it on that. A nice re-design wouldn't hurt either. -coyote ed.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

It starts with another visit to the chiropractor. He got me well on the way to recovery with the last adjustment, but we're not quite there, so another attempt in an hour.

Then off to work for a little bit and then I go pick up my ex and we're off to a cocktail party to honor his involvement in a local AIDS charity event. Then dinner I think, if he's not too adamant about going home after. In any case I will eat.

But during all this it will be 100 degrees. Doesn't THAT sound like fun.

Still no movement in the real estate market for me, but it's apparently a waiting game. Hate it.

Still no movement in the debt ceiling negotiations, but apparently someone needs to get spanked. Hate it.

Still no movement on the final details of the estate. Hate it.

Oh! There's a young man at the grocery who comes in all the time and keeps staring at me in the most seductive way, and yesterday made a rather cute but clumsy attempt to engage me in conversation. He's very handsome.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

We're broke! George Bush took all our money and gave it to his "friends," which is, of course, the only way he can get any... buy them.

But in the process he ruined a country. So we get, as usual, to live with the results.

I can't imagine what the third great depression will look like, but I think we'll soon find out, and the ostriches who continue to support the GOP will stick their heads in the sand and blame Obama and the Dems. Quelle suprise!

So here I am running headlong into the twilight years and I can count on nothing. No security social or otherwise. No health care, no safety net other than what I myself can provide. I'm one of the lucky ones, I can keep working, I can buy stuff with my money, I can escape to another country if necessary. Most are trapped.

Make no mistake we the people didn't do this. We were duped, we played by the rules, and we got screwed. Maybe it's time to change the rules. We can do that you know. It is after all our game in the end.

Donna Brazile on her CNN blog muses about what we've done and where were headed.

It ain't good.

in 2000 and wrote "Cooking With Grease." (CNN) -- My fellow Americans: In a matter of weeks you have become studied on the issues of budgets and deficits. You've also formed opinions on these issues, and these opinions are reflected in poll after poll. Isn't it strange that Congress has yet to listen?Recently, I reviewed a poll completed in late May for the Pew Charitable Trust. They found that a majority of Americans believes the government is "generally helping the wrong people." This discontent stems in part from the perception that the government helps those who need it least -- the rich rather than the middle class or the working poor.A majority of citizens, 54%, think their government helps the rich economically "a great deal." Much smaller percentages of the public say the same about "the poor, 16%; "the middle class," 7%; or "people like you." Anyone. Because of a loophole, hedge fund managers are likely to pay a lower rate of taxes than their secretaries. Warren Buffett, one of the world's richest men, has spoken out about the injustice of the fact that his tax rate was less than the cleaning lady's. Both parties agree that reform of the tax code is necessary, but one thing should be clear: As it stands, the tax system disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Americans. Passing a debt deal that exclusively cuts programs that benefit middle- and lower-income Americans will only exacerbate this difference.

Because of a loophole, hedge fund managers are likely to pay a lower rate of taxes than their secretaries.
--Donna Brazile

Another fact that has been largely ignored in this debate is the origin of all this debt. We are, after all, raising the debt limit to pay for things we've already bought or purchased.Let's take an earnest look at who broke the bank. This week, Ezra Klein, in The Washington Post, reported that the cost of policies that began under George W. Bush top out at more than $5 trillion -- this includes long-term and recurring spending from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, decreases in revenue like the Bush tax cuts, as well as additions to the structural deficit like the Medicare prescription drug plan. The cost of policies beginning under President Obama top out at $1.44 trillion, and these policies are largely one-off, short term, or non-recurring spending -- like the stimulus package. Americans are worried about whether their shot at the American dream is slipping away. We are at the point where we worry most about achieving economic stability rather than getting rich. We are in agreement the government gives the rich better breaks than anyone else in our country.Let's take a moment to think of the working poor, those among us who live not just from paycheck to paycheck, but who go hungry at the end of every month before their Social Security, veterans or unemployment benefits checks arrive. By the way: My dad is a retired janitor who relies on his Social Security and veteran benefits each month.That's exactly what more than 60 leaders of Christian denominations and religious organizations did this last week, when they joined in an open letter called a "Circle of Protection," which urged President Obama to protect the poor.Their statement read, "As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. ... Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices.They told the president: "As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up -- how it treats those Jesus called 'the least of these.' (Matthew 25:45)."They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard."It wasn't only the Christian community that signed the "Circle of Protection" letter. In addition to the 60 leaders of Christian faiths, several heads of development agencies plus leaders of other faiths signed on. Over 5,000 clergy signed the original document and 30,000 average citizens have signed it online since its publication.It is the working poor who will be hurt first, and hardest, if we default on our debt. Millions of Americans live on less than $1,000 a month. They depend on their Social Security or veterans checks to pay their rent. Come August 2, they may find themselves in danger of eviction if they don't pay up -- because the U.S. Congress refused to pay our own bills.Republican leaders must understand that we can't make the least among us, who have the least, bear all of the burden. Not while the top 1% continue to benefit disproportionately, allowing them to capture 20% of the nation's earned income. We know tough days are ahead. Americans have demanded, after the crash of 2008, that government live within its means. But, we never meant that our grandmothers and grandfathers, our war veterans, each of whom sacrificed all their lives to enable you and me to come down through the years, should pay the debt.Are we to ask them to sacrifice what little they have, while some in Congress vehemently defend tax benefits for the wealthiest Americans?For over two years now, most of the Republicans in Congress have listened to their party's donors and not to their constituents who live on Main Street. It's important that Americans make their voices heard before it's too late.May Congress vote on and pass a balanced approach to reducing our nation's debt and obligations.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

In true modern day GOP style Kevin Yoder had a town hall meting last weekend. And then cancelled it at the last minute because "Democrats had invaded"

Is this what we've come to? Have we allowed our government to be hijacked by extremists?

If that's the case they've won. The terrorists who attacked us on September 11 have accomplished their goal, they've divided and conquered.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the twilight zone episode entitled "The monsters are due on Maple Street" should readily see that all they had to do was take away a few of our modern conveniences, like civil liberty and the ability to pursue happiness, and we turn on each other.

That's what Yoder represents. The worst of us.

I don't pray, but I ask the universe every day to look favorably on us once again. To forgive us our multitudinous sins against our fellow man and show us that we should be a nation that stands together, not as separate economic entities, but as a strong and united nation that knows that the only way to survive is to stand strong and look out for each other.

That isn't what we're doing and I hope we can reverse course and save ourselves. because if we don't we're doomed.

Overland Park, KS -- This morning, at the Mills Farm Clubhouse in Overland Park Kansas, Congressman Kevin Yoder cancelled a hastily arranged town-hall meeting to discuss his recent vote for the “Cut, Cap & Balance” bill. Over 40 constituents of Yoder’s were denied entry into the meeting with staff citing a lack of ‘pre-registration.’ After constituents, elected officials and members of the media waited for over an hour in the heat, members of Yoder’s Congressional staff turned people away and said the meeting was cancelled.

In response to Congressman Yoder’s actions this morning, Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Kenny Johnston released the following statement:

“Mr. Yoder can run but he can’t hide. His vote this week was political grandstanding at its worst. If I’d voted to pay for handouts to the rich by eliminating Medicare, stood up for the Tea Party instead of common-sense Kansans and put our economy at risk while slashing Social Security, I’d probably run away, too.

“Kevin Yoder needs to act like a Congressman. He needs to stand before his constituents and explain his extreme voting record. His votes for big oil and the wealthy few and against Medicare and Social Security have left everyday Kansans wondering, ‘When is this guy gonna stand up for us?’

“There was a 90 year old woman in the crowd today who came to hear from her Congressional Representative about his votes on important issues. She braved the heat to be there. Unfortunately, Congressman Yoder wasn’t brave enough to listen.”-democraticunderground.com

Monday, July 25, 2011

A new friend recently said that to me when we were discussing the purchase of a house.However, I have to take exception to that remark. On behalf of whores everywhere I have to say that i have known more than a couple of whores who had more integrity than bankers of my recent acquaintance.

Last week I found a house. Actually I'd found it a few weeks ago I was just waiting for my father's estate to settle so I could pay for it on the spot. Well, banker's had other ideas. They kept lowering the price! They lowered it 5k, and then another 5k and then 10k, and finally when it got really low I sort of panicked.

I emailed my broker and told him we had to get busy and make an offer. There was a reasonable time frame since the estate is scheduled to settle in about three weeks, so i thought "What the hell, make an offer get the terms worked out and set a closing date for the end of august. That way I can get the inspections done and paint before I move in."

Wrong!

I told my broker, " Agree to the terms they've set forth on the listing sheet, and give them the earnest money deposit they require."

Now i think that's pretty reasonable to approach a seller with the intent to agree to what they ask without asking much in return. I agreed to buy their house for the price they were asking ( I know, but it was a really good price) and I agreed to take it on their terms. That apparently wasn't enough.

They countered with an offer to sell me the house if I'd pay them an earnest deposit twice what they'd originally asked. They countered with a closing date seven days from last Friday. They also said that for every day i delayed the closing after July 29, I had to pay them $100. They also refused to give me more than 7 days to do the inspections.

Now, man and boy I've seen injustice, hatred, guile, hail, plague, and pestilence. But this was a new one on me.

I realize they're hiding something and they think I'm so stupid that I don't know that an 80 year old house would probably need a new septic tank. And knowing this I had intended to have the tank inspected, and also planned to replace it.(Not an inexpensive proposition I might add)

But these fools are trying to ram this house down my throat and want me to ask them to give me a little spankin' while they're at it. I doubt they're cute enough.

After stewing over their completely unreasonable demands all weekend I called my broker this morning and told him to withdraw the offer.

Let's let that bastard sit on that tomorrow morning when he comes in to discover that the house he thought he was unloading on Friday is back on his books.

I've also discovered during this process that there is another house every fifty feet.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today we are in "I told you so!" mode. I have said for a long time that the infection of big business in our lives has extended far beyond its proper application.

Everything is NOT a business, and this week that Koch Brothers pawn son of a bitch Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin, admitted to it publicly.

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker conceded that he made a mistake last February in the way he limited collective bargaining power that led to weeks of massive protests in Madison. However, he still defends his policies and believes that ending collective bargaining was somehow a cost-saving measure to the state.Nationwide, Walker was criticized for trying to end state worker rights. He was also heavily criticized for his bullying tactics that did not allow any debate on the issue, but rather forced the law through.”The mistake I made early on is, I looked at it almost like the head of a small business: identify a problem, identify a solution and go out and do it,” Walker told Reuters at the National Governor’s Association meeting in Salt Lake City.“I don’t think we built enough of a political case, so we let … the national organizations come in and define the debate while we were busy just getting the job done,” he said.Walker continues to argue that his extreme policies helped prevent layoffs for state workers, even though restricting collective bargaining has not saved one cent. The political fallout from the controversy is still being felt. Six Republican senators who supported the measure will be forced to defend their seats during a recall election in August. Three Democratic senators are also up for recall. Democrats vow to recall Walker in January after he has served one year in office and will be eligible for recall according to state law.If Democrats gain just three of the seats at stake in the special summer elections, they will take control of the upper house and have some control at preventing Walker’s draconian slashing measures. But, Republicans will still control the Assembly.“If the Republican candidates are outspent two to one, it’s pretty difficult,” Walker said of the recall effort.“Conversely, if things end up being relatively even and the message gets out,” the party will have a better chance of prevailing, he said. Walker said he did not plan to campaign in the contested districts.Last November, a large majority of states fell to Republican governors who promised to provide jobs to the nation’s long suffering unemployed. However, they have failed to deliver and their approval ratings are plummeting. Walker believes that his poll numbers will improve when voters see improvement in the economy.But, while Washington fights over the ridiculous debt ceiling and each state is trying to ban abortion and other morality clauses, the unemployment rate stays stagnant. Sorry, Scott but your numbers aren’t going to improve any time soon. Slashing spending throughout the country DOES NOT help jobs.

Everything is NOT a business folks! Does anyone remember when hospitals ran with a board of directors and were controlled without corporate interference? They seemed to get along fine for centuries! And health care was way better for the individual patient.

Remember when live theatres were controlled by learning institutions and not the whims of politicians who want to politicize any and every message? They seemed to be able to exist for centuries too. Wake up folks business is an infection and we need a huge tube of salve.

People are slowly, and I hope permanently waking up to the fact that the current trend of the GOP to eliminate benefits of any kind, lower wages, eliminate social security, medicare and any entitlements is not an accident. They've been planning this a long long time. The fools who blilndly go out and vote a party line without doing any of their own due diligence get what they deserve.

The problem is we all have to pay the price. And we all have to spend years fighting to regain the same protections our ancestors gave their lives for and we gave up without a thought until it was too late.

I also agree with this douchebag. His message of divisiveness, mixed with a heavy dose of ignorance and hate, are unconscionable, as his existence, but his contention that a civil war over civil rights is coming, mirrors my own.

"We can harken back to our American revolution. The Declaration of Independence has a long list of sayings that the colonists were lobbying King George III about, but King George III just kept coming back with more and more taxes, he didn’t listen. So they said, well, you know what, it’s our right to alter or dissolve the government. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re declaring independence. We’re not there yet but I tell you what if we don’t start voting different and telling people how to vote and if pastors don’t repent and teach people how to vote Christianly, then we’re heading to toward a real civil war I’m afraid." - Randy Thomasson, head of the hate group Save California.

I have long said that people who hate can only be conquered one way...force.

No one seems to listen.

Hopefully I'll get to be an old old man and see them prove me wrong, but I don't see that right now.

Marcus Bachmann Acts as Michele's Sometime Stylist

Shopping help comes from another quarter, as well. Before Vice President Dick Cheney's visit this past summer, Bachmann's husband, Marcus, hit the stores -- "he's got a good sense of style" -- and came home with "a sleek, simple hourglass dress with a yoke collar in winter white." He even bought a matching coat and shoes. "I just slipped it on."

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Getting older sucks. Yesterday I bent over to put a box of potting supplies on a lower shelf and that was it for my back. So now I am waiting for time and the chiropractor to resolve it. Not to sound sexist but women do not have the upper body strength to adjust my back. So there'll be yet another attempt tomorrow. Until then the xanax party is on baby!

Read this morning about the total surrender to the GOP debt ceiling demands. I'll try to post the article later, haven't exactly figured out cut and paste on the phone yet, besides...i'm high.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Friday I cooked for the gang of 6, and if I do say so myself it turned out pretty well. (since they applauded after they ate i guess it must have been good.) Then Saturday I went on a date with my first love.

I find it amazing that two people can sit down after 32 years and start talking like they last saw each other yesterday.

It's rumored we'll do it again soon. I hope so.

There was also time in the pool, and not as much sleep as I'd like but it was worth it.

In unfortunate news I see there are even more people who didn't learn about the constitution in school.

By BRUCE SCHREINER
updated 7/17/2011 11:14:09 PM ET

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that communities have a right to ban Islamic mosques.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," the former Godfather's Pizza CEO said protests and legal challenges to a planned mosque in Tennessee city are an example of local residents pushing back.

Cain said his view doesn't amount to religious discrimination because he says Muslims are trying to inject Shariah law into the U.S.

Shariah is a set of core principles that most Muslims recognize and a series of rulings from religious scholars. It covers many areas of life and different sects have different versions and interpretations of the code.

Asked if his view could lead any community to stand up in opposition to a proposed mosque, Cain replied, "They could say that." He pointed to opposition to the planned mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn., as an example.

"Let's go back to the fundamental issue that the people are basically saying that they are objecting to," Cain said. "They are objecting to the fact that Islam is both religion and (a) set of laws, Shariah law. That's the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it's just about religious purposes.

"The people in the community know best. And I happen to side with the people in the community."
Advertise | AdChoices

Cain's comments were denounced as "unconstitutional and un-American" by a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"It's clear that Herman Cain has decided that he will score political points every time he bashes the Muslim community or its constitutional rights," council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said in a phone interview.

Cain previously stirred controversy by saying that he would not want a Muslim bent on killing Americans in his administration.

Campaigning in Murfreesboro last week, Cain sided with mosque opponents.

Other political news of note
Fallback plan gains momentum in debt talks

With time running short in U.S. debt talks, Republican and Democratic senators sought on Sunday to craft a plan that could avert an unprecedented government default while making modest cuts in the deficit.
US debt stalemate invokes language of Armageddon
Tea Party debt plan takes center stage
Perry's credentials: As conservative as they come
Cain: Communities have right to ban mosques

"I happen to also know that it's not just about a religious mosque," he said Sunday. "There are other things going on based upon talking to the people closest to the problem. It's not a mosque for religious purposes. This is what the people are objecting to."

Hooper called the remarks "utter nonsense," saying Cain "seems to have hitched his wagon to the most extreme anti-Muslim bigots out there." He called on Republican leaders to repudiate Cain's comments.

"Each time you have someone who is regarded as a mainstream political leader expressing these kind of hate-filled views, it just fans the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry nationwide," he said. "And it gives legitimacy to intolerance and hatred. And he, of all people, should realize this, being African-American."

In Murfreesboro, the future new mosque has been the subject of protests and counter-protests in the city about 35 miles southeast of Nashville.

Opponents have used the hearings to argue that the mosque is part of a plot to expand Islamic extremism in the U.S.

"It is sad to hear these words coming from a GOP presidential candidate, who is not only supposed to believe in but should also uphold the US constitution," Bahloul said. "Mr. Cain is encouraged to educate himself about the first amendment and learn more about our peaceful and productive Muslim community in Murfreesboro."

Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Cain's comments "demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution."

"And it's baffling that a man with designs on becoming the leader of this nation would so callously alienate over 3 million of its citizens," Fotopulos said.

And in good news there are people in the world who know that love is love, and they embrace it in all its forms.

Friday, July 15, 2011

I know I shouldn't laugh because anything is possible, but as usual; some fiscally and socially conservative nutjob in Cali has come up with s new way to completely waste money they desperately need.

Secede.

So, let me see if I understand Jeff Stone's plan. Take 13 of California's most conservative contiguous counties, pardon the alliteration, and make them into their own state.

Sounds like a cheap way to fix a leaky faucet doesn't it? Let's look at the CNN story cause I can't believe my fucking eyes.

Riverside, California (CNN) -- A conservative county supervisor in Southern California wants to form the 51st state by seceding the region from California, saying the state's problems require "radical" solutions."Listen, I knew I'd be criticized. I learned in my tenure of being a politician for 19 years, sometimes you have to do radical things to get people's attention," Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone said on CNN Thursday."We have hit a nerve with citizens who are just fed up with business as usual in the state," Stone said. "I'm talking about a secession plan from the state of California."This week, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave the OK to Stone to hold a summit of California's local leaders to discuss remedies for the state's long list of woes -- including secession.But the county board stopped short of endorsing Stone's secessionist plan by insisting no taxpayer money be used for the conference.Stone has come up with a name for the new state: South California. It would be composed of 13 largely Republican counties, most of which are inland along the Nevada and Arizona state lines. The plan would exclude Los Angeles County, but would include Orange and San Diego Counties, both on the coast.Stone has a long list of grievances against the state and its legislators: high taxes and fees, inability to reform welfare programs, high unemployment and excessive regulations."What the state has done is they've been balancing their budgets on the backs of our local coffers. They've been stealing our sales tax, property tax," Stone said. "The bottom line for me and my constituents is jobs. We are sending jobs out of the state of California by the train load."Riverside County is among the hardest hit communities by the recession and mortgage meltdown, leaving many communities pockmarked with vacant homes, Stone said."We are the foreclosure capital of the world," Stone asserted. "We have some areas of the county that have 25% unemployment. The average in Riverside County is about 15%."Stone's plan seems a long shot, one analyst said. There have been at least 27 efforts for secession within parts of California since the 1800s, and none has been successful.Robert Melsh, a political science instructor at Mount San Jacinto College in San Jacinto, California, which is in Riverside County, said Stone's plan stunned him, largely because of the high cost of putting a secessionist plan before voters. He called it a "scare tactic.""Insanity," Melsh said. "I mean this is major surgery where we need a Band-Aid."It takes millions of dollars to get the signatures necessary to put up an initiative," Melsh added.Melsh also raised the question of getting a 51st state's government up and running."Where is he going to put the capitol? Disneyland?" Melsh said.Stone, a pharmacist and owner of an innovative compounding pharmacy, said he drew the lines for a new state by picking 13 counties that were contiguous and fiscally conservative or moderate.

A date for the summit of local leaders has yet to be scheduled, he said.

And in case you think I'm just picking on some poor dummy from southern California take a look at the latest effort at propagnada from Fox News.

One would think that after these many centuries I have lived that I wouldn't be a stranger to disappointment, and technically I'm not.

Most of the people I've known in my life have managed to accomplish the feat of disappointing me. Today wasn't a particularly momentous day in the disappointment category, but it provided food for thought.

Perhaps it's the full moon, perhaps it's just that I'm tired and when I'm tired I see trouble where none exists. But I do have cause to reflect on a conversation I had with a friend over a decade ago. During that conversation he said, " Sean, it's time for me to stand still, but I think it's time for you to start moving."

And move I did. I went back to school, I continued on to grad school, and then I met E. Thinking I was on the road to settling down, I moved to a place I really didn't want to live to be with him and shortly thereafter found out it was a mistake. Since then I've been scattered, I've been quite literally at sixes and sevens almost all the time.

Everything I've tried has either been temporary or has passed once it's time had gone. Now I think it might be time for moving on again.

I'm about to be in a position to do so. There are things I want to see, places I want to go, and things I want to do. Do I do that? Do I just forsake material goods and take off? Do I take the risk of looking at the world and seeing if there's a different place in it for me? Maybe.

There's no reason I can think of to stay here. There's no career move to make, no particular person to be here for. No responsibilities that a little cash can't stave off.

The universe is conspiring against me in the house buying department., the employment situation doesn't seem to get better it gets worse. And interpersonal relationships...well, let's just call them the leading source of disappointment.

This time next month I could be anywhere else, literally anywhere. The full moon isn't helping the situation any. Neither is the news that a co-worker who never smoked a day in her life is about to die from lung cancer.

It's just too short, and sitting here waiting for something to happen...well it's not enough.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

It amazes me that the Republican party has managed to hornswaggle most Americans into believing that they're the party of the common man. I suppose common men secretly want to think of themselves as movers and shakers, and I suppose being a serf to one kinda-sorta qualifies, but the truth is...no.

The common man has been duped. Mostly by fear and greed. Controlled by their fears, people will do just about what they're told, almost all the time.

And the machinations surrounding the debt ceiling are proving to be no exception.

Today I learned that there is a new medicare payment advisory board. There is already a medicare payment advisory board, BUT, congress is not in any way bound to pay any attention at all to their recommendations, and they don't.

The difference? This board has teeth, and unless congress votes to stop their recommendations, they'll take effect.

That's what really has them pissed off.
Via NPR.org-
One thing both Democrats and Republicans agree on is that they can't solve the deficit problem without slowing the growth of the massive Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

But here's an irony. Republicans and a growing number of Democrats also seem to agree that they don't like the one aspect of last year's Affordable Care Act that actually would effectively reduce Medicare spending.

It's called the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB for short.

Republicans hate it. A lot.

"I believe it is a rationing board that is going to ration care for our seniors," said Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) at a news conference last month.

Added Rep.Diane Black (R-TN) at that same event, "a board that is appointed people that are going to make decisions about what kind of care is going to be given to the patients will destroy the very core of what has made our medical system the best in the world."

Democrats don't use such hyperbole, but more than half a dozen have signed on as cosponsors of a bill that would repeal the board. And many more, particularly Democrats in the House, never supported creating the board in the first place.

What the law actually calls for is a board of 15 health experts, to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Their task is to make recommendations for ways to reduce Medicare payments without cutting benefits or increasing costs to Medicare beneficiaries.

That's not much different from an existing panel of expert Medicare advisers, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC. Except for one thing. Congress is free to ignore MedPAC's recommendations. And it does, routinely.

That won't be the case with the new IPAB. Its recommendations will take effect unless both houses of Congress override them with a two-thirds vote. Republicans – and more than a few Democrats – find that excessive.

"Even if the Congress could muster up, both the House and the Senate, a two-thirds vote, which is virtually impossible, but in the remote possibility that we could; we would have to find cuts somewhere else other than what they recommended in the Medicare program, said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus.

But backers of the new board say it's likely to do a better job deciding how to pay doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers than Congress itself does.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), who's one of the new board's biggest backers, says now, the biggest winners are inevitably those with the most effective lobbyists.

"The Congress often doesn't know how to say no and the Congress has a practice of never saying no, and so costs go up," he said at a recent Finance Committee hearing.

Rather, says Rockefeller, it would be better not only to insulate Congress from all those lobbyists, but to get people with more expertise on deciding how medical providers should be paid. "You want to have the Gail Wilenskys...and the Bruce Vladecks," he said, referring to former heads of the agency that runs Medicare. "People who have broad health care policy experience making those decisions."

But there's a problem. Both Wilensky and Vladeck – the former a Republican and the latter a Democrat — think the IPAB is a bad idea.

Wilensky, who oversaw Medicare for the first President Bush, says she's sympathetic to Congress's desire to insulate itself from the lobbying onslaught. But she worries that the board is limited to looking only at payments to health providers, which she says "could fundamentally alter the incentives involved in physicians and providers participating in Medicare."

In other words, it could end up driving Medicare payments so low that providers will simply leave the program, or else go bankrupt if they can't.

Vladeck, meanwhile, who headed Medicare under President Clinton, has a different problem with the board. He worries that eventually the lobbyists who are now so influential with members of Congress will become equally influential with the unelected members of the board.

"In the short term, it might theoretically work," he said. But the history with other independent regulatory agencies, like the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Civil Aeronautics Board is that over time "the regulated industries tend to capture them; and they tend to do more to protect the regulated industries than they do to protect consumers."

But not every outside expert thinks the board is a bad idea. Princeton health economist

Uwe Reinhardt said Germany has a similar independent group that writes all the nation's health care regulations. And he and a group of colleagues who saw it in action a few years ago were amazed at how efficient it is.

"Go to Germany, study it, and you will find that this really works. It's civilized," he said.

But two days of hearings that begin today with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the House Budget Committee will likely show that those from both parties doubt such a board will work here in the U.S.

So here we go, following the money around in circles until someone finally caves, like we all know they're going to. Pandering to the fears of the common man, not their strengths with which we could actually build this nation up.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Cnn finds it amazing that one of the hardest hit groups in the "economic downturn" were black.

(Put post title here) How could you not know that this is the exact thing that would happen with the economic exploitation that was perpetrated on the citizenry during the Bush administration?

I too looked at houses during the real estate boom. I chose one that I thought would be a good investment, though the owner seemed by his terms and demands to be...well a bit of a dick. i made my offer in good faith and proceeded to apply for a mortgage.

Then I got a set of paperwork from the ubiquitous Counrtywide. I sat down and began to read this little missive they'd sent. Very shortly thereafter I started running across terms like ARM, and "after (such and such) amount of time payments may be adjusted, blalh blah blah. I called my broker.

"Is this an adjustable rate mortgage?" Yes, she replied, that's what will work best for you on this property."

"Oh really? Well, I thank you for your time and effort, but I think I'll pass on your kind offer to sell me into indentured servitude to Countrywide."

But this buying a house thing is an extremely emotional decision and a lot of people don't think it through rationally when making it. Such is apparently the case with Deborah Goldring, subject of the CNN article I read yesterday.

Now, in her defense she made all the right choices, she played by all the rules, she did what she was told. And she got screwed anyway. After her husband got sick and they found themselves destitute after using all their savings to pay for his care, she then found herself widowed, and facing foreclosure on a house she'd been in nearly 30 years.

I have to wonder if this would have happened of she'd been white.

I think the most wrenching moment of reading that article was not when she talked of losing her husband, nor of being forced to ask her daughter for $100 to pay a bill. No it was when she lamented the loss of her checkbook.

Here's a basic tool we all use daily and most definitely take for granted, and she no longer has one.

This woman is 58 years old, she has no more chances in this country to recover from the economic ruin that was forced on her by greed.

And what do we do? Those of us fortunate souls who were lucky enough to be born white? We don't even have to be smart, just white, and we get mostly whatever we want. Deborah? She gets what most black people in this country get...bupkus.

Our elected representatives sit on their hands and spend our money and their time wrangling over tax cuts for the rich, and all the while trying their damndest to take more of what little we have left.

For our part we give them control of our civil liberties, our freedoms, and certainly our future.

We might think the Deborah Goldrings of this world are few and far between, but when they come for us there'll be no one left to stop them. And make no mistake, they ARE coming.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I know I'm obsessive, I am frequently like a dog with a bone when I get ahold of a subject. But in some instances I think it's healthy, not all mind you, but some.

Today's obsession is the new house. I made an offer, which hasn't been replied to I might add, and Now I'm planning what to do when I get it. It's gonna be cool.

This is dependent of course on outside forces. Said forces must agree to the offer or make a counter I will accept and as yet have made no action at all. Which is making me a little more than crazy.

Who said, "All good things come to those who wait." I alternately embrace and despise them.

Casey Anthony pulled an OJ yesterday I see. Unlike him I bet she sells the story to Lifetime movies and makes a fortune which her white trash Florida trailer park friends and family will help her spend right quick I'm certain. Then she'll start the talk show circuit. I wonder what they'll call her reality show? "If I killed my kid." perhaps.

But back to me, which is what's it really is about anyway. So far there's a small orchard of fruit trees, a kitchen garden, a wo car garage with a studio, a hot tub and a pool. There will never be billiards, simply no room. Alas...

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Monday, July 4, 2011

A horse, a swimming pool, a nap, some barbecue, gin, and finally lemon pie and fireworks.

That's it, that's the entire day in a nutshell. I plan to keep the big bad world at arms length for at least one day.

Tomorrow I should hear about my offer on house number one. Haven't finished my research on house number two, besides a really cool place in the middle nowhere New Mexico has shown itself and I'm awaiting pictures. It may require an investigative trip.

I can handle two houses, three may be more than is realistic.

Had my faith in humanity restored last night. After work I had about three hours to kill and decided to get 20 miles in on my bike. Finished my ride, turned into the parking lot and started laughing. Five cars in the lot, the rustiest, most dilapidated, 198-something chevy s-10 just had to park right next to me. So, I loaded the bike and took off for dinner. Still had about 40 minutes so I took my time, I drove through some residential areas and checked out the houses for sale, and got to the restaurant at 6:55, dinner was at 7. perfect.

Now, I seldom look in the back of the car in summer. It's full of crap. Saddles, bikes, cowboy hats bike helmets, this year it's got 200 lbs of clay. Just a mess don't want to see it. But yesterday I did I turned around and looked as I parked my car. There was the bike the helmet, the saddle, all the aforementioned crap. But missing one vital ingredient.

The front wheel to my bike.

I'd taken it off and leaned it up against the side of the car and never thought about it again. So I went inside found my friend waiting, thankfully he hadn't ordered anything, and said "Let's go I left my bike wheel at the park we gotta go check if it's there." We jumped in my car and careened through the streets. I came flying around the last corner before the entrance to the park to be greeted by a train. I looked at my friend, "This is the universe trying to teach me about patience...DAMMIT!!!

After what seemed an interminable wait I took off and as I turned into the lot I saw there was a car in the space I had occupied, and the hoopty was gone.

But my wheel was standing against the fence.

As I said last night when I got down on my knees and expressed my gratitude for not having to replace a $300 bike wheel, "Thank you whoever you are!"

Nice end to a nice day, looking for another, and another, and more after that.

Friday, July 1, 2011

You're not the boss of me!

Your RightsYou have the right to say no to mythology and religion, and to realize they are one and the same.You have the right to all the information you need to make an informed decision about mythology.You have the right to raise your child as an Atheist, free of shame, fear, or embarrassmentYou have the right to send your children to public schools knowing they will not be taught mythology as truth or science.You have the right NOT to pay higher taxes to compensate for those with religion-based Tax Exempt Status (every church, synagogue, and mosque in the country, scientologists and Moonies, too).You have the right to a voice in politics, and for your elected officials to hear you LOUD AND CLEARYou have the right to any job in our government, from School Board to President.You have the right to a secular government that takes no stand on religion except to prohibit religion's intrusion into itself or your life.You have the right to a government that does not advance religion, fund religion, or depend on religion for guidance.You have the right to be an American Atheist.

What is Atheism

Atheism is the lack of belief in a deity, which implies that nothing exists but natural phenomena (matter), that thought is a property or function of matter, and that death irreversibly and totally terminates individual organic units. This definition means that there are no forces, phenomena, or entities which exist outside of or apart from physical nature, or which transcend nature, or are “super” natural, nor can there be. Humankind is on its own.

The following definition of Atheism was given to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Murray v. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203, 83 S. Ct. 1560, 10 L.Ed.2d (MD, 1963), to remove reverential Bible reading and oral unison recitation of the Lord's Prayer in the public schools:

“Your petitioners are Atheists and they define their beliefs as follows. An Atheist loves his fellow man instead of god. An Atheist believes that heaven is something for which we should work now – here on earth for all men together to enjoy.

An Atheist believes that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction, and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, to subdue it and enjoy it.

An Atheist believes that only in a knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment.

He seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to know a god. An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man.

He wants an ethical way of life. He believes that we cannot rely on a god or channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter.

He believes that we are our brother's keepers; and are keepers of our own lives; that we are responsible persons and the job is here and the time is now.”

Followers (Gods help you)

who's there?

Bullied to death

Eric Mohat, 17, was harassed so mercilessly in high school that when one bully said publicly in class, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you," he did.

Tyler Clementi

Seth Walsh

Police in Tehachapi, California, will not pursue charges against students who taunted and bullied 13-year old gay student Seth Walsh, who hung himself nine days ago and was taken off of life support yesterday. "Several of the kids that we talked to broke down into tears," said police chief Jeff Kermode. "They had never expected an outcome such as this." Other students remain in shock over Walsh's tragic death, and seem to understand that homophobic bullying played a role in Walsh's suicide, yet that doesn't mean they'll break what prevention counselor Daryl Thiesen calls the "culture of silence" that surrounds bullying. "You're told you shouldn't be a snitch or tattler," said Thiesen. Walsh's death comes one day after Texas teen Asher Brown shot himself over anti-gay bullying. These incidents are not isolated, America. This isn't a gay problem, nor are these stories just about nasty brats. We're experiencing an anti-gay bullying epidemic, and one that needs to be addressed, for the aforementioned culture of silence isn't just killing kids, it's killing our nation's future.

Asher Brown

Asher Brown's worn-out tennis shoes still sit in the living room of his Cypress-area home while his student progress report — filled with straight A's — rests on the coffee table. The eighth-grader killed himself last week. He shot himself in the head after enduring what his mother and stepfather say was constant harassment from four other students at Hamilton Middle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. Brown, his family said, was "bullied to death" — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said. The 13-year-old's parents said they had complained about the bullying to Hamilton Middle School officials during the past 18 months, but claimed their concerns fell on deaf ears. David and Amy Truong said they made several visits to the school to complain about the harassment, and Amy Truong said she made numerous phone calls to the school that were never returned. 'We want justice' Cy Fair ISD officials said Monday that they never received any complaints from Brown's parents before the suicide about the way the boy was being treated at school. School district spokeswoman Kelli Durham said no students, school employees or the boy's parents ever reported that he was being bullied. That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents. "That's absolutely inaccurate — it's completely false," Amy Truong said. "I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. … It's like they're calling us liars." David Truong said, "We want justice. The people here need to be held responsible and to be stopped. It did happen. There are witnesses everywhere." Numerous comments from parents and students on the Web site of KRIV-TV Channel 26, which also reported a story about Brown's death, stated that the boy had been bullied by classmates for several years and claimed Cy-Fair ISD does nothing to stop such harassment. Durham said the school counselor and an assistant principal received an e-mail from Amy Truong earlier this month, asking them to keep an eye on her son, but Durham said it was because of ongoing concerns at home and not about bullying. Shot himself with pistol Brown was found dead on the floor of his stepfather's closet at the family's home in the 11700 block of Cypresswood about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. He used his stepfather's 9 mm Beretta, stored on one of the closet's shelves, to kill himself. He left no note. David Truong found the teen's body when he arrived home from work. On the morning of his death, the teen told his stepfather he was gay, but Truong said he was fine with the disclosure. "We didn't condemn," he said. His parents said Brown had been called names and endured harassment from other students since he joined Cy-Fair ISD two years ago. As a result, he stuck with a small group of friends who suffered similar harassment from other students, his parents said. His most recent humiliation occurred the day before his suicide, when another student tripped Brown as he walked down a flight of stairs at the school, his parents said. When Brown hit the stairway landing and went to retrieve his book bag, the other student kicked his books everywhere and kicked Brown down the remaining flight of stairs, the Truongs said. Durham said that incident was investigated, but turned up no witnesses or video footage to corroborate the couple's claims. 'I hope you're happy' The Truongs say they just want the harassment to stop so other students do not suffer like their son did and so another family does not have to endure such a tragedy. "Our son is just the extreme case of what happens when (someone is) just relentless," Amy Truong said. To the bullies, she added, "I hope you're happy with what you've done. I hope you got what you wanted and you're just real satisfied with yourself."

Justin Aaberg

WCCO reports on the tragic death of Justin Aaberg, which happened in July: "Justin Aaberg came out as gay when he was 13 and, as his mom found out only after he hanged himself, suffered tremendously inside. 'I actually thought he had the perfect life. I thought out of anybody I knew that he had the perfect life,' said Justin Aaberg's mother, Tammy Aaberg. 'But I guess he didn't think so.' In the weeks since she found her son dead in his room on July 9, Tammy Aaberg has heard from many of her son's friends at Anoka High School. They told her Justin Aaberg had been bullied and had recently broken up with his boyfriend. Those same students also opened up about their own experiences, telling her they feel harassed and unsafe as gay and lesbian students. 'These kids, they just hate themselves. They literally feel like they want to die. So many kids are telling me this,' said Tammy Aaberg, fighting tears." There were five suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin District last year, and a lesbian student there as well as a teacher believe at least three were attributable to anti-gay bullying. The school district asks teachers to "remain neutral" on the bullying because of some conservative dipshits in the district who apparently don't want "gay" being addressed at school: "...name-calling and bullying happen often in the district because teachers and students don't stand up to it. The teachers said that's partly because other teachers are scared and confused about how to interpret the curriculum policy. The Anoka-Hennepin School District said the curriculum policy and bullying are two entirely separate issues. 'It's very difficult. We have a community that has widely varying opinions, and so to respect all families, as the policy says, we ask teachers to remain neutral,' said District Spokeswoman Mary Olson."

Billy Lucas is dead

Greensburg, Ind. — He was a teenager who didn't quite fit in. His classmates said Billy Lucas was bullied for being different. The 15-year-old never told anyone he was gay but students at Greensburg High School thought he was and so they picked on him. "People would call him 'fag' and stuff like that, just make fun of him because he's different basically," said student Dillen Swango. Students told Fox59 News it was common knowledge that children bullied Billy and from what they said, it was getting worse. Last Thursday, Billy's mother found him dead inside their barn. He had hung himself. Students said on that same day, some students told Billy to kill himself. "They said stuff like 'you're like a piece of crap' and 'you don't deserve to live.' Different things like that. Talked about how he was gay or whatever," said Swango. Principal Phil Chapple doesn't deny that students are bullied in the high school, but he said he didn't know Billy was one of the victims. "We were not aware of that situation," said Chapple. It's clear though, on a memorial page created in Billy's honor that many people knew students bullied him. We found comments like "everyone made fun of him" It's a wake up call to a serious problem the school can't ignore. "We're discussing where we are going. Where we are looking to establish a committee," said Principal Chapple. It's a common problem inside Greensburg High School that goes way back. "I was bullied several times because I was gay. I was called f**, queer. i was thrown up against lockers. I would tell the school officials about it and they would dismiss it," said a former student who did not want to be identified. He is 21 years old now and the awful memories of high school came rushing back when he heard about Billy's suicide. "I can't help but take it personally because when all of this was happening to me I was the same age he was. I also attempted to commit suicide." Other students are speaking out on a facebook page created in Billy's honor and it's obvious that bullies have hurt students at Greensburg High School. Billy's death is a wake up call.

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was 11-- hardly old enough to know his sexuality and yet distraught enough to hang himself last week after school bullies repeatedly called him "gay." Derogatory labels regarding sexual orientation torment kids across the country. The Springfield, Mass., football player and Boy Scout was ruthlessly teased, despite his mother's pleas to the New Leadership Charter School to address the problem. Sirdeaner L. Walker, 43, found Carl hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of the family's home April 6, just minutes before she was going to a meeting to confront school authorities again. "I am brokenhearted," she told ABCNews.com. "We worry about the economy and about Iraq, but we need to be worried about our schools." Walker, who works as a director of homeless programs, said Carl -- a slight child who loved his schoolwork -- had endured endless taunts since he started sixth grade in Septemb

Jaheem Herrera

"On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from Dunaire Elementary School, Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body. 'His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’' said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old. When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt. Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope. 'We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’' Keene recalled. 'He’d never tell us.' He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said. 'They called him gay and a snitch,' his stepfather said. 'All the time they’d call him this.' In an interview with WSB-TV, the boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school. She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive." The school has subsequently denied there was any bullying taking place.

Hero!

Haunted Man of the Cloth and Pioneer of Gay Rights By MARK OPPENHEIMER Published: September 18, 2010 The death this month of Seymour Pine, the vice officer who in June 1969 led a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, unwittingly galvanizing the gay rights movement, is a reminder that history has its forgotten actors, too. For every star in the history of gay rights — think the politician Harvey Milk, or the comedian Ellen DeGeneres — there are many more bit players, people whose names do not even make the credits. In the world of religion, one of the great neglected actors, a man who had a marquee moment but then fell into obscurity, is the Rev. James Stoll, a Unitarian Universalist who died in 1994. Mr. Stoll, one of the first openly gay ministers in America, had a difficult life, and his demons seemed to follow him to an early grave. But he was hugely responsible for introducing American churchgoers to gay rights. For those who support gay rights, he ought to be a hero; for those troubled by increased acceptance of homosexuality, he makes a vivid villain. Mr. Stoll was born in 1936 in Connecticut. He was educated at Mount Hermon School, in Massachusetts, at San Francisco State University and, finally, at Starr King School for the Ministry, in Berkeley, Calif. After being ordained, he pastored a church in Kennewick, Wash., from 1962 until 1969. After leaving the church in Kennewick — church documents indicate that he was asked to resign — he moved back to the Bay Area. In the words of Mr. Stoll’s friend Leland Bond-Upson, who in 2005 first delivered a sermon about him at a church in Petaluma, Calif., Mr. Stoll took a flat in the Eureka Valley neighborhood of San Francisco “with three others (me the draft counselor, Nick the cabinetmaker and Peter the communist revolutionary), and for a full year we four hosted an unending stream of young visitors, all come to look for America or something.” Soon, in September 1969, Mr. Stoll drove Mr. Bond-Upson and two others in his Volkswagen Fastback to the La Foret conference center in Colorado Springs to attend a convention of about 100 college-age Unitarians. “On the second or third night of the conference,” according to Mr. Bond-Upson, “after dinner, Jim got up to speak. He told us that he’d been doing a lot of hard thinking that summer. Jim told us he could no longer live a lie. He’d been hiding his nature — his true self — from everyone except his closest friends. ‘If the revolution we’re in means anything,’ he said, ‘it means we have the right to be ourselves, without shame or fear.’ “Then he told us he was gay, and had always been gay, and it wasn’t a choice, and he wasn’t ashamed anymore and that he wasn’t going to hide it anymore, and from now on he was going to be himself in public. After he concluded, there was a dead silence, then a couple of the young women went up and hugged him, followed by general congratulations. The few who did not approve kept their peace.” Mr. Stoll was not the first openly gay minister. He had been preceded by at least one man, the Rev. Troy Perry, who the previous year had founded the Metropolitan Community Churches in Los Angeles. That denomination, which has straight members but has always specialized in ministry to queer communities, now claims 43,000 members in 22 countries. But Mr. Stoll was a minister of an established denomination — a liberal one, often so diverse as to seem post-Christian, but nonetheless one with Christian roots. As such, he brought gay rights to the heterosexual Christian world. Over the next year, newly emboldened, Mr. Stoll wrote articles about gay rights and delivered guest sermons at several churches. In July 1970, at their general assembly in Seattle, Unitarians passed a resolution condemning discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals. Other churches soon liberalized, too. In 1972, for example, the United Church of Christ ordained an openly gay man, and today there are openly gay Episcopal priests and Lutheran ministers. Having pioneered an important change in American Christianity, Mr. Stoll never returned to the ministry. In fact, it seems that he could not. According to letters kept at Harvard, sent in 1970 between church members and Unitarian officials, Mr. Stoll had been suspected of drug use and of inappropriate sexual advances toward young people in the Kennewick congregation. The circumstances of his departure made it unlikely he would find another pulpit. Over the next 25 years, Mr. Stoll had a varied career. He worked as a substance abuse counselor, started a hospice on Maui, in Hawaii, and served as secretary of the San Francisco chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “He died on Dec. 8, 1994,” Mr. Bond-Upson said in his 2005 sermon, “a little short of age 59. He died not of AIDS, but of worn-out heart and lungs. He was never able to lose much weight, nor quit smoking. When it was known he was dying, a stream of friends came to say goodbye. Friends arrived from the A.C.L.U., from inner-city social services, from Hunters Point, from drug abuse treatment centers, from the ministry. Yet despite all this matchmaking, and though his romantic side often found expression, Jim never had for long the all-embracing love he longed for.” Mr. Stoll left no descendants, but he had many heirs.

Victims of hate crimes

All of the following pictures are of victims of hate crimes. Some never recovered from the attacks. above is Albert Dibble

Brandon White

Brandon White

At a press conference this afternoon, Brandon White, the Atlanta man beaten by a gang outside of a grocery store in a video posted online that went viral earlier this week, spoke out about the attack.
Said White: "I feel that if a straight person can walk to the store and not have a problem, I should be able to do the same. I shouldn't have to worry about whether I should look over my shoulder, or is this person going to attack me, or is that person going to attack me for just being a gay male. I feel as though I should have justice, because those guys didnt feel my pain. They didn't care whether or not I was injured. I could have died that day. They don't know what they do to people. They're monsters."
White got a round of applause when he added: "By them going ahead and putting it on the internet, I feel that they wanted the attention...they wanted to make themselves look like they were brave or strong, but in my opinion, I'm the brave one."
White continued: “Who's to say they won't come after me again...Who's to say this time they won't try to kill me. All because I wanted to speak up about the situation."

And still...

Three men have been arrested in an alleged anti-gay assault in St. Cloud, Minnesota, according to the St. Cloud Times: "The incident happened at 2:24 a.m. in the alley near DB Searle’s, 18 Fifth Ave. S. The men hurled gay slurs at the man and beat him, said Martin Sayre of the St. Cloud police department. The victim is identified as a 22-year-old from St. Louis Park. He had cuts and bruises to his face and hands, Sayre said. Matthew Warren Thomas, 24, of Rogers, Chad Vincent Hands, 21, of Elk River, and Ryan Andrew Frane, 23, of St. Cloud were arrested and taken to Stearns County Jail." The men have not yet been charged.

2009 beating of Jack Price

Michael Goucher

Michael was murdered by someone he met on the internet. He was stabbed more than 20 times and left to die in the woods. Michael was 21.

Michael Causer

After beating Michael to death one of his "friends" said, "He’s a little queer, he deserves it."After 13 hours of deliberation late last week, a jury in Liverpool acquitted Gavin Alker for the murder of teenager Michael Causer, who was attacked by three other youths while he slept last July and remained in a coma for a week before dying in the hospital. Causer's lethal injuries were reportedly caused by blunt trauma from a hardback book:

Bloody Hell

A cowardly gang of five brutally beat a teen in an anti-gay attack in Bridgwater, UK: "Jason Saunders, aged 18, was left with a broken nose and bruising after being jumped on by a five-strong gang after they started shouting abuse at him as he walked to work from the Sydenham area of Bridgwater with his partner, Gary Holman. The attack happened June 23, at around 6.40pm. Turning on to College Way, he walked past a group of five people. The group started shouting abuse at him, calling him 'queer' and 'ginger', telling him to 'sort out his hair colour'. Jason said: 'I asked them why they were shouting abuse at me and the next thing I know, all five people were attacking me. They were kicking and punching me in the face and still calling me names.' After the attack, Jason was rushed to Bridgwater Hospital, before being taken to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton as doctors were worried about him drifting in and out of consciousness. He has been left traumatised and in fear of his safety. Left with a broken nose and bruising, he has become totally reliant on other people." According to police, one 29-year-old man was arrested and released on bail pending further

Man Involved In Galveston Anti-Gay Attack Sentenced

Last year, Andy Towle wrote about an anti-gay hate attack at Robert's Lafitte, a gay bar in Galveston, Texas, in which two patrons was attacked with a 4-pound stone. One of the three assailants reached a plea agreement in January for a five-year sentence. On Friday, one of the other remaining two assailants received their verdicts.

"Alejandro Sam Gray, 18, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with an enhancement for a hate crime, Galveston County Assistant District Attorney Jon Hall said.

Judge Susan Criss, of Galveston’s 212th District Court, sentenced Gray to 20 years on both counts, but his sentences will run concurrently, Hall said."

Gray's mother told the Daily News that she thinks her son's sentence is too harsh. She claims that "he isn’t a bad kid” and told the paper that he "was adamant about graduating high school and wanted to be a video game designer, artist and dance choreographer."

One of the victims Marc Bosaw, who needed 12 staples to shut the wound to his head, had the this to say about the judge's verdict:

"I am quite off balance, and I stutter some. I recently fell and was hospitalized with a broken shoulder and head injury again.” He added, “I don’t want this to ruin their lives, but people have been telling me I guess my life was ruined also."

Transgender Woman Found Beaten to Death in Houston Field

"The body of the 51-year-old was found in the 4300 block of Garrott near Richmond. Police said her body was covered in bruises and showed signs that she tried to fight back. Williams said she has been in constant contact with police. 'She went down fighting and she was literally beaten to death,' she said. Police said Ical was previously known as Ruben Dario Ical. Investigators are not calling this a hate crime, but they’re not ruling out anything at this time. “It concerns me a lot,” said Lou Weaver, who is helping plan a vigil for Ical. 'A lot of my friends live around here. I drive down this road constantly going to and from where I live.' Weaver and Williams said it doesn’t appear as if Ical has family living in the Houston area. They’ve seen her at some of their transgender support group meetings and have taken on the task of putting up fliers throughout the neighborhood. 'We’re just interested in solving this crime,' said Williams."

"The Houston area now has seven (7) unsolved transgender murder cases in the past decade...Equality Texas asks for the public’s help in solving Ms. Ical’s murder. We also call upon area media outlets to be respectful in their reporting on this case. Several media reports have referred to the victim using male pronouns. Standard media style, including the Associated Press, is clear that transgender people should be referred to using pronouns that reflect their gender identity."

Kenneth Cummings

Jason Gage

Jason Gage (1976 - March 11, 2005) was a 29-year-old man who was murdered in his Waterloo, Iowa apartment, by an assailant who claimed Gage made sexual advances. Jason Gage was last seen alive on March 11, 2005, socializing with friends in Waterloo's downtown bars. Sometime that night he went home to his apartment in the Russell-Lamson building. With him was 23-year-old Joseph Lawrence. Gage was originally from Oelwein, Iowa. He'd lived in Chicago and Milwaukee before moving to Waterloo years earlier. He settled downtown, and worked waiting tables in the Italian restaurant of his apartment building. He enrolled at the College of Hair Design in Waterloo, Iowa, in January 2003, and his friends said he dreamed of working in a big city salon.[1] Lawrence moved to Iowa from Farmington, New Mexico, where he'd been an oil worker. New Mexico court records show that Lawrence pleaded guilty to possession of one ounce of marijuana in January 2003. He spent 30 days in the San Juan County Jail. Lawrence was born in Seaford, Delaware and was adopted at age 5. He moved with his adoptive parents to Maryland, New Jersey, and then to Ohio. He was removed from his birthparents for severe abuse and spent several years in foster care before he was 5. He has a history of mental illness for which he spent time in mental health group homes and hospitalizations. He has a history of intermittent rage disorder for which he has been treated in the past. During his time in Ohio, he decided he no longer wanted to be adopted and moved back into foster care at age 16. From there, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then on to New Mexico. In early 2003, Lawrence moved from Farmington, New Mexico to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to be with his girlfriend—Elizabeth Hostetler—who was six months pregnant with their child. The couple—who had been together for a year—decided to move to Cedar Falls, because Hostetler had many "lifelong friends" in the area who could help with the baby . Hostetler said she introduced Gage and Lawrence about a week before Gage's murder. Hostetler had met Gage through an acquaintance and had known him for about two years. Witnesses said Gage and Lawrence were together the night Gage was killed. They were seen at Kings & Queens, the local gay club, before heading to an after hours party at The Times Bar. The two left at some point and headed back to Gage's apartment. According to Hostetler, Gage told Lawrence that he could wait for a ride at his apartment, which was two blocks away from The Times Bar. A female friend and roommate of Hostetler's said Lawrence called late Friday or early Saturday asking for a ride home from downtown, because he "didn't like the hospitality of the place," and needed a ride or he was going to "end up in jail." An investigator said he received a call from a man who had been asked to give Lawrence a ride home from a downtown club. Lawrence never showed up for the ride, and the man said he later heard that from Hostetler that Lawrence had beat up Gage. In the early hours of March 12, phone records show Lawrence sent several text messages to friends in Iowa and New Mexico via his cell phone. "I just killed a guy I think, " one read. A second sent to Michael Bailey in New Mexico flashed "U need to call me soon." A phone conversation between Bailey and Lawrence, in which Lawrence said "some guy" tried to "hit on him real bad" and described "a fight that got way out of hand," indicated that Lawrence may not have known Gage was dead Lawrence gave a videotaped statement at the Waterloo police station after plain-clothes police officer went to the home he shared Hostetler and asked him to come in for questioning. A police affidavit Lawrence acknowledged hitting Gage twice with a bottle and stabbing him with a piece of glass On December 16, 2005, as part of a plea agreement, Joseph Lawrence entered an Alford plea in the case of Jason Gage's murder. The plea allowed Lawrence to avoid admitting guilt while acknowledging that he would likely have been found guilty of Gage's murder had the case gone to trial. Originally charged with first degree murder, which would have meant a life sentence without parole, Lawrence pleaded to the lesser charge of second degree murder. As part of the plea agreement, Lawrence also waived his right to appeal the plea and the sentence, and to pay a $150,000 civil penalty to Gage's estate. After entering his plea, Lawrence added "I have nothing appropriate to say," and sat silent during his sentencing. Judge Bruce Zager sentenced Lawrence to 50 years, which was the mandatory punishment under Iowa law. Lawrence must serve at least 70 percent—35 years—of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Jimmy Lee Dean

Dean, a native of Cincinnati, had lived in Dallas for about 20 years, and had lost contact with his family. Dean worked as a freelance web designer, but his true love is music and playing his guitar, and his goal is to open a home recording studio to help other artists cut demos.Around midnight on July 17, Dean left Alexandre's — one of two gay bars he'd been to that night — and began walking back towards his apartment complex 50 yards away. Michael Robinson, a 48-year-old gay man and car salesman, walked out of Zini's Pizzaria around the same time. He encountered Dean, who was walking in the same direction, and the two struck up a conversation. Near the corner of Throckmorton Street and Dickerson Avenue, they passed Bobby Jack Singleton, 26, and Jonathan Russell Gunter, 31, walking in the opposite direction. Dean gave them a nod, having recalled seeing them there before, and kept walking. Singleton and Gunter doubled back and came up behind Robinson and Dean. Robinson turned to confront them. A verbal exchange occurred between the parties, and Robinson urged Dean to keep walking. When Singleton and Gunter got between him and Dean, Robinson ran to his apartment one block away and retrieved a kitchen knife. When he returned, Dean lay on the ground with Singleton and Gunter kicking him, stomping his face and yelling things like “you gay ass motherfucker, punk-ass bitch,” according to Robinson. Singleton and Gunter attacked Dean, pistol-whipped him with a 9mm Glock handgun, as well as kicking and stomping his head, face, and body. Witnesses said that Singleton and Gunter used anti-gay epithets before, during, and after the attack. When Robinson approached with the knife, one of the men pulled the gun on him that they'd used to beat Dean. Distracted, they began walking a way from Dean. Norman Draper, 26, a heterosexual passing motorist acting as designated driver for some gay friends, saw Singleton and Gunter pass behind his car on foot, and saw Dean lying in the street. Draper left his vehicle, put flares on the road, and called 911. A former security officer and Police Explorer, he used latex gloves to retrieve the gun that Singleton and Gunter had tossed into some high grass, as well as a bloody knife lying next to Dean.5) Singleton and Gunter later admitted to police that they'd targeted Dean because they thought it would be easier to rob a gay man. Dean was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. He suffered a broken jaw and vertebrae, as well as facial fractures and swelling. Witnesses at the scene said that after the beating, Dean's nosed was attached only by a piece of skin. Dean's injuries were so bad that police were unable to interview him. The attack left Dean unable to talk to police for at least 24 hours, and hospitalized for 10 days. His jaw and cheek bones were crushed from kicks to the head. Seven months after the beating, Dean still lived with pain from the attack, suffered depression, and had not regained his sense of smell, He awaited surgery to repair and replace death damage or lost as a result of the attack, but surgery to repair his drooping eyelid was unsuccessful, making it unlikely that his facial injuries from the attack will be repaired surgically. Following the attack, Robinson went on to organize an hate crimes advocacy group, United Community Against Gay Hate Crimes. Singleton and Gunter were apprehended at the scene by security guards from the nearby clubs. They were arrested and held on bail; $300,000 for Singleton, and $300,500 for Gunter. They were charged with aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony, because investigators recovered a set of keys and a Zippo lighter from them, which belonged to Dean. On July 31, the Dallas County prosecutors announced that they would not seek hate crimes charges against Singleton and Gunter. Dallas police plan to categorize the attack as a hate crime for statistical purposes. Prosecutors, however, decided not to pursue hate crime charges because Singleton and Gunter already face the maximum penalty — up to 99 years — if convicted. Under Texas law, a hate crime conviction by a jury could not result in enhanced sentencing, but a hate crimes charge could put a greater burden of proof on the prosecution. Texas law dictates that a hate crimes designation is made during the sentencing faze of a trial, after conviction. On March 4, 2009, Gunter was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the attack on Dean. He face up to life in prison after being convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.

Ukea Davis and Stephanie Thomas

Jorge Steven Lopez

"On November 14 the body of a gay 19 year old was found a few miles away from the town in which he was residing in called Caguas. He was a very well known person in the gay community of Puerto Rico, and very loved. He was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso. This has caused a huge reaction from the gay community here, but its a difficult situation. Never in the history of Puerto Rico has a murder been classified as a hate crime. Even though we have to follow federal mandates and laws, many of the laws in which are passed in the USA such as Obama’s new bill, do not always directly get practiced in Puerto Rico. The police agent that is handling this case said on a public televised statement that 'people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen'. As If the boy murdered Jorge Steven Lopez was asking to get killed..." His mother later said: “When my son told me he was gay, I told him, ‘Now, I love you more.’ I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone …could have been my son. And I want everybody to know that Jorge Steven was a very much loved son.”

Andrew Frost and Jean Rolland

Amancio Corrales

Christopher Skinner

A crowd estimated at around 1,000 turned out for a vigil in honor of Christopher Skinner, a 27-year-old gay man in Toronto who was beaten by a group of people in an SUV and then run over and killed while walking home from a birthday party last week. Late last week, authorities held a press conference at which they released images of the SUV they believed killed Skinner. Authorities are not sure what the motivation behind the murder was, but they have some theories they are floating. Based on a security camera video, police say Skinner may have accidentally touched the SUV while hailing a cab, inspiring the violent attack which took his life. It's also entirely possible that a group of kids, emboldened by alcohol, saw a vulnerable looking guy they perceived to be gay trying to hail a cab on the street, stopped, beat the crap out of him because of hatred for gays, and then ran him over.

Ian Baynham

"Ian Baynham, 62, was punched and kicked to the ground on 25 September. He suffered head injuries and died in hospital on Tuesday. A 30-year-old man who was with him suffered minor injuries. Police have started a murder inquiry and have appealed for information about CCTV images of two women who were in the area at the time. Officers said Mr Bayman (sic) and his friend were initially verbally abused by a woman as they got off a bus near Duncannon Street. He went to remonstrate with her but she and her two friends, a man and another woman, attacked him. The suspects were seen seated in the area before the assault at about 2245 BST. They are all described as being aged between 16 and 20 and the two females (seen above, in a surveillance photo) had blonde hair. The male was described as dark-skinned, about 5ft 8in tall (1.72m), with black hair." Baynham and his friend had apparently taken the bus into London to enjoy a night out.

Daniel Fetty

Michael Wrenn

Warren and Hudy were walking home from Seattle's Belltown neighborhood around midnight on August 4. Walking down the 2200 block of First Avenue, they passed a group of six men, one of whom was urinating. One of the men in the group offered Hudy $20 to tell the man who was urinating that he had a “red-fox penis,” meant to be a comment on his penis size.1) Hudy declined, and he and Wrenn continued walking. 2) The man who had been urinating stopped and approached Wrenn and Hudy and asked, “What are you guys, fags?” When Wrenn answered “Yeah. I'm gay. What's your problem,” the man shoved Hudy aside, pushed Wrenn to the ground and began punching him. After the attack, the men ran away. Hudy followed the men while also talking to 911 on his cell phone. and eventually led police to them. The primary attacker had fled, but the police were able to get his name. At the scene, medics treated Wrenn for a bloody nose, cuts to his chin, and bruises to his body. He would later develop two black eyes. After the attack, Wrenn and Hudy spoke to the policeman on the scene, and explained to him that they believed the attack was a hate crime, motivated by Wrenn's sexual orientation. The police office did not get out of his car during the interview.3) When Wrenn emphasized that the only reason he was attacked was his sexual orientation, the officer responded that to him that being gay “is your issue.”4) The same officer later filed a which made no mention of the attacker's anti-gay remarks or the bias-based motive of the attack. The incident was classified as an assault, and the “bias crime” box was unchecked. In an interview with Seattle Gay News, a Seattle Police Department spokesman stood by the officer's actions and the veracity of the report. Seattle has a hate crime statute that covers investigations of crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Seattle City Councilmenber Tom Rasmussen asked the Seattle Police Department to look into the incident, and on August 8 Wrenn was informed that a bias crimes detective was being assigned to the case.5) No arrest has been made in Wrenn's assault.

Lisa Craig

On July 4, Craig, 35, and her family – her partner Debbie Riley, 37, and their five-year-old and nine-year-old daughters – went to Boston's Piers Park to watch the fireworks.1) Around 9:00 p.m., an “intoxicated” teenager urinated in view of their children. Craig protested, and the teenager cursed and yelled anti-gay slurs at Craig.2) Riley said the teenagers continued to harass them.3), and followed them through the park taunting them with anti-gay slurs throughout the evening.4) After the fireworks, at about 10:40 p.m. Craig and Riley encountered the teenagers again, after buying ice cream for their daughters.5) The teenagers began fighting and accidentally shoved Craig's and Riley's five-year-old into the ice cream truck.6) Craig then turned and confronted the teenagers. One of them recognized the family and again started yelling anti-gay slurs. The teenage girl then punched Craig. The rest of the teenagers set upon Craig, knocking her to the ground punching and kicking her as she lay on the ground. Craig's head hit the pavement and she was knocked unconscious.7) The teenagers punched and kicked her as she lay on the ground, with her partner and children watching.8) C One of the teenagers grabbed Craig's head and repeatedly slammed her head into the sidewalk, in an attack that lasted several minutes.9) The teenagers grabbed Craig's purse and ran off when a police officer told them to leave before they were arrested. Riley criticized the officer for not arresting Craig's attackers.10) Riley said Massaport police could have arrested the teenagers, but the officer yelled “Get the fuck out of here before I arrest you!”11) With Craig unconscious and an “orange-sized lump” growing on her head, Riley called for help, directing the crowd to call 911 and summon police. But, Craig would later say, “there were no police to be found.” As their daughters screamed “Don't die, mommy!”, several men in the park helped Riley and Craig until a police officer arrived. The officer reported, “Approximately 20 teenage males and females were hostile and verbally threatening the victim, her children.”12) Craig was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where doctors operated to slow the bleeding in her skull.13) Craig underwent two operations and received more than 200 stitches.14) Over 150 members of Boston's LGBT community15) held a rally in Piers Park on July 26, where speakers urged the crowed to take action in response to the hate crime against Craig and her family.16) Anita Santiago, 15, was arrested and indicted for assault and battery. Santiago disputed Craig's version of events in a civil case deposition. Santiago claimed she and Craig exchanged words over Craig's daughter being pushed, but that Craig put her hands on her before she punched Craig. On December 4, 2003, Santiago was indicted as a “youthful offender,” and charged with aggravated assault and battery. The Suffolk County district attorney decided not to prosecute Santiago for a hate crime in the attack on Craig. A spokesperson for the D.A.'s office said that prosecutors could not prove that Santiago made the anti-gay statements attributed to her. Craig and Riley filed a civil suit against the the Massachusetts Port Authority for reckless disregard of public safety, for failing to have sufficient police forces in the park. Depositions in the civil case showed that Massport planned to assign two officers to the park, however the lieutenant in charge of the East Boston patrols testified that he repeatedly warned against under staffing the park on a night when thousands of people would gather to watch fireworks. Documents showed that Massport police were trying to reduce overtime costs. Captain Michael Grady, in charge of scheduling, declined to pay the $300 overtime costs that an additional officer would have cost Massport spent $600,000 defending itself in the suit and then settled in the fall of 2006, for $205,000, under a confidentiality agreement with the plaintiffs. On July 12, 2005, Santiago was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty and admitting to having attacked Craig. Santiago was ordered to stay away from Craig, obtain her GED, be evaluated for anger management counseling, and pay Craig $65 per month during probation. http://www.lgbthatecrimes.org/doku.php/lisa-craig

Matthew Shepard

Matthew left a bar in Laramie Wyoming with two men who took him out in the country tied him to a fence and beat him unconscious. He was found the next day tied to the fence by a cyclist. He died three days later in a Denver hospital. His killers are each serving two life sentences without parole.

Steve Domer

On October 30 2007, Domer's burned car was found. Domer's body was found by a hunter at about 5:00 p.m.9) in a ravine in McClain County10) on November 4. His body was bound with duct tape, and a wire hanger was around his neck.

Roberto Duncanson

Good news—Omar Willock will be behind bars no fewer than 23 years for the stabbing death of 20-year-old Roberto Duncanson (pictured) in May of 2007. Willock claimed Duncanson flirted with him on the street, so he called him a faggot and followed him for several blocks while shouting anti-gay slurs before murdering Willock. The case was originally charged as a hate crime, but that charge was later dropped based on shaky eyewitness testimony.

Paul Broussard

Before there was Matthew Shepard or James Byrd Jr., there was Paul Broussard. Broussard, a 27-year-old gay banker from Houston, was brutally beaten and stabbed to death by a gang of 10 youths in the city’s Montrose area on July 4, 1991. Seven years prior to the legendary murders of Shepard and Byrd, Broussard’s case became one of the first anti-gay hate crimes in the nation to be covered by the mainstream media. The Broussard case also precipitated Texas’ first hate crimes law. “I think if it hadn’t been for the Paul Broussard case, the Matthew Shepard case would not have developed as it did,” said Ray Hill, a longtime Houston gay-rights activist who helped bring Broussard’s killers to justice. “The Matthew Shepard case had the benefit of the field already being plowed. You just had to plant it.” Andy Kahan, who heads Houston’s Crime Victims Assistance Office, began working on Broussard’s murder shortly after he was appointed to the position in 1992. Sixteen years later, Kahan still hasn’t been able to put down the case. Jon Buice, the only one of Broussard’s 10 killers who remains in prison for the crime, will again be up for parole in 2009. “It was humungous down here,” Kahan said of the murder. “It echoed a firestorm for obvious reasons. You had 10 middle-class youth from a well-to-do suburb specifically targeting gay males. And this was not just an anomaly. “They had come down several times previously as well ,” he continued. “You have a pack of wolves that went after three men who were just minding their own business leaving a club. It touched a nerve. Hate crimes wasn’t on anybody’s radar until Paul Broussard met his grisly death.” ‘Where’s Heaven?’ Broussard and his two friends, Cary Anderson and Richard Delaunay, were walking back to their car after a night out in the Montrose at about 2:30 a.m. The 10 youths approached in two vehicles and asked for directions to Heaven, a gay bar. After Broussard and his friends told them the route — an indication the three were gay — the youths jumped out and attacked them. Anderson and Delaunay managed to escape after sustaining only minor injuries, but when Broussard turned down a dead-end street, he was cornered. The youths pummeled him with their fists, their steel-toed boots, a two-by-four studded with nails and at least one knife. Broussard fought back but suffered a broken rib and crushed testicles, as well as stab wounds to the stomach and chest. He died about eight hours later at St. Joseph Hospital. Hill, who then served as an unofficial liaison between Houston’s LGBT community and the police department, said he was summoned to the scene shortly after the attack. Gay-bashings were relatively common in the Montrose at the time, Hill said, but law enforcement rarely took them seriously. “By 1991, I was not willing to accept that,” Hill said. “I said this is not going to be another hate crime that is not going to get investigated.” Hill helped raise reward money from Montrose-area businesses, and he organized a protest a week after the murder that drew 1,200 people, blocking traffic. The case was quickly elevated to the front page of the daily paper and to the top of TV newscasts. “This was the first nationally publicized gay-bashing killing, and the whole purpose of that was to identify the culprits using the media as the vehicle,” Hill said. And the strategy worked. A few weeks after the attack, police got a tip from one of the suspect’s girlfriends that eventually led to all 10 youths. Seven of the 10 were only 17, and the eldest was 22. They were all residents of the Woodlands, a suburb halfway between Houston and Huntsville, who’d attended the same high school. The suspects became known as the Woodlands 10. According to news reports, the 10 boys had been drinking and partying for a few days before the attack when they decided to travel to the Montrose to engage in what had become a ritual — harassing and sometimes physically assaulting gays. They drove around asking for directions to Heaven, and when people indicated that they knew the location of the bar, the youths would throw “queer rocks” at them. Earlier the same evening, they’d hit a car windshield with one of the rocks and struck another man in the mouth. Five of the 10 youths were sentenced to probation, which included boot camp and community service in the LGBT community. Two of those five violated their probation and were sent to prison. Three of the remaining five youths were sentenced to 15 years in prison, one was sentenced to 20 years, and Buice — the knife-man who inflicted the fatal wounds — got the longest sentence, 45 years. The saga continues Back in Warner Robins, Ga., where Broussard grew up, his mother said she was getting ready for work when the phone rang about 6 a.m. on July 4. It was a man calling from the hospital to tell her what had happened and that her son wasn’t likely to survive. “The phone call will stay in my mind for the rest of my life — it was an absolute nightmare,” said Broussard’s mother, Nancy Rodriguez. “I remember begging him, just do what you can. … They did everything they could for him. He never had a chance.” Rodriguez said her son had been an Eagle Scout and an honor roll student who played in the high school band and sang in the church choir. “He was a very good son, a loving son,” she said. “Everybody loved Paul. He had tons and tons of friends.” Broussard moved from Georgia to College Station to attend Texas A&M University, and he worked two jobs to put himself through school, his mother said. After graduating, he moved to Houston. Rodriguez said her son phoned home every week and was especially close to his younger brother and sister. In fact, at the time of his murder, he was saving money to bring his sister to Houston for a visit. Broussard had come out to his family a few years earlier, while he was still in college, his mother said. The family was supportive, and while she feared things like HIV/AIDS, she never dreamed he’d fall victim to anti-gay violence. “I never even knew about gay-bashing,” Rodriguez said. “I got quite an education after Paul was murdered.” Since her son’s death, Rodriguez has been active in groups like PFLAG, Parents of Murdered Children and Compassionate Friends. She’s also worked tirelessly to ensure that his killers serve as much of their sentences as possible. Even now, with all but Buice having been released, she must travel to Texas every two years to testify at a parole hearing. Rodriguez said preparing for the hearings can take up to six months. The case has gotten renewed attention from the media in recent years due to a storyline about Hill, who’s become an advocate for Buice’s release. Hill, an ex-con himself who hosts a radio show for prisoners and their families, said he no longer believes Broussard’s murder was motivated by anti-gay hate. Hill also said he believes Buice — a model prisoner who’s expressed remorse for the crime —is fully rehabilitated. Hill’s stance has led to a bitter, emotional dispute with Rodriguez and Kahan. But all parties agree about one thing, which is that the legacy of the case hasn’t died. “Certainly the life of Paul Broussard is not worth any of this, but out of that came a lot of public awareness,” Hill acknowledged. “Before Paul Broussard, people did not make apologies for their prejudices against gay people. I think it has resulted in some deep and pretty broad socio-cultural changes.”

Ryan Skipper

Ryan was stabbed to death on a stretch of rural road in central Florida. Though comments had allegedly been made by his killers about his sexuality, the focus of the trial is on the robbery. No mention was made of the remarks in prosecutors opening statements. Ryan was 21.Second Killer in Ryan Keith Skipper Murder Found Guilty William Brown Jr. has been found guilty of first degree murder and robbery in the March 2007 death of Ryan Keith Skipper: "The verdict was announced at 2:56 p.m. Jurors had been deliberating since 12:34 p.m. Brown will be sentenced to life in prison Dec. 1. During this morning's closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo rejected Brown's statement to detectives that he 'blacked out' during the 2007 stabbing attack." Brown's accomplice, Joseph Bearden was found guilty of second-degree murder, theft of a motor vehicle, accessory after the fact to robbery with a weapon, tampering with evidence, and dealing in stolen property on February 27 of this year. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 25 years.

Isaac and Julio

27 year old Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño (left) was born in Spain. 32 year old Julio Anderson Luciano (right) was born in Brazil. They lived together in the Spanish province of Vigo and were planning to get married.Both were stabbed to death by Jacobo Piñeiro Rial in their apartment in the early morning of January 13th, 2006. The bodies showed a total of 57 stab wounds, according to forensics. * After killing them, Piñeiro took a shower and cleaned himself up. He filled a suitcase with some of their belongings to make it look like a robbery and then spilled clothing all over the place. He poured alcohol over everything, including his victims' bodies, turned on the gas spigot on the stove, and set everything on fire. Piñeiro was acquitted.

Larry King

The E.O. Green School shooting refers to the February 12, 2008, murder of Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King, a fifteen-year-old student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, United States. He was shot and killed by fellow student, fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney. McInerney has been charged as an adult with premeditated murder with enhancements of discharge of a firearm and a hate crime; he is being held in lieu of US$770,000 bail, and faces a sentence of 50 years to life imprisonment if convicted. The motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Newsweek has described the shooting as "the most prominent gay-bias crime since the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard", bringing attention to issues of gun violence as well as gender expression and sexual identity of teenagers.

Scott Libby

Scott was beaten and strangled to death by a man he knew who purportedly owed him money. The man now claims it was because Scott made sexual advances toward him. He said when Scott put hands on him he hit him twice in the nose and Scott persisted so he beat him to death. When Scotts body was found in his car which had been left on railroad tracks and struck by a train, there were no injuries to Scott's nose.

Angie Zapata

Angie was murdered by a sex partner who discovered she was transgender. When questioned he replied, "I think I killed it." He was sentenced to life without parole.

James Parkes

The 22-year–old, who the ECHO understands is a trainee constable with Merseyside police and has been named as James Parkes, was attacked by up to 13 people at 10pm last night when out with three friends on Stanley Street. He is currently in hospital with multiple skull fractures, a fractured eye socket and a fractured cheek bone.

Keith Phoenix Gets Hate Crime Conviction in Sucuzhañay Case

Keith Phoenix, who with his accomplice Hakim Scott attacked a pair of Ecuadorean immigrant brothers and taunted them with anti-gay, anti- Hispanic slurs as they walked home from a night of drinking in December 2008, has been convicted of second-degree murder as a hate crime and attempted assault as a hate crime, for the murder and assault of Jose and Romel Sucuzhañay, respectively. Phoenix's first trial resulted in a mistrial in May after one juror refused to continue. Gay City News reports: "Phoenix, 30, and Hakim Scott, 27, assaulted the brothers after mistaking them for a gay couple as they were walking home early in the morning on December 7, 2008 in Brooklyn’s Bushwick section. The two Ecuadorian immigrants were huddled close together to stay warm. Romel said an anti-Latino slur was used. Two other witnesses heard an anti-gay slur. Phoenix was convicted on the top counts he faced and could get as much as 40 years in prison for the killing when he is sentenced on August 5. His first trial ended in a mistrial after one juror held out for a manslaughter conviction while the other 11 wanted to convict on second-degree murder. The first jury did not believe the attack was a hate crime. Scott was convicted on manslaughter and attempted assault charges on May 6, though not as hate crimes. Scott will be sentenced on July 14." Phoenix faces life in prison.